Mosquito board OKs move

Members agree to construct new 10,000-square-foot headquarters

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- Anastasia Mosquito Control Board this week voted to build a new 10,000-square-foot base station at the board's 17.5-acre property off State Road 16 and Interstate 95.

The close decision came during a fractious special meeting on strategy, planning and budget. The final vote was 3-2, with Commissioner John Sundeman and Board Chairwoman Janice Bequette dissenting.

Commissioner Vivian Browning continued her campaign to secure a board commitment to get the base station away from the beach, where, she said, it would be vulnerable to hurricanes.

"The S.R. 16 property is at the edge of the hurricane zone," Browning said. "The new base will be in a central location and be able to reach all areas of the county quickly. (But) unless you have a vision and a plan to move forward, we're not going to get there."

Saving money by staying put is one argument used by Sundeman, who opposed the move.

"Do we know how much it will cost the taxpayers for us to move?" Sundeman said. "We haven't done a needs analysis to see if we even need to move. When the schools can't even hire teachers, it's gross negligence to spend money to greatly increase the operating costs of the district."

Browning replied, "It costs millions to stay here and it could cost millions when people lose their lives."

After a bad hurricane, she said, mosquito control is needed to reduce the threat of mosquito-borne diseases.

However, she added, the Beach headquarters would probably be damaged or destroyed, its chemicals spilled and Anastasia Island roads impassable. An inland headquarters means the district's chemicals and spraying trucks would remain safe and be able to operate immediately, she said.

Browning said the county was interested in buying the S.R. 16 property for $600,000, which is $35,000 an acre. The district paid $25,000 per acre, but gave seven acres to the county for the new Emergency Operations Center dedicated last week.

Sundeman said there was already a hurricane plan for the district: Its trucks would evacuate to the County Fairgrounds.

"There's one road in and one road out (at the S.R. 16 property)," he said. "One of the reasons the county wants this property is that they don't want us out there."

A motion to not sell the property passed 4-1, with Sundeman dissenting.

He has gone on record against moving to that property since it was purchased. He said that District Director Dr. Rui-de Xue convinced the previous board to buy the land. This week Sundeman spoke against Xue's cost estimates of $800,000 to $1 million to replace and reopen the district's closed Ponte Vedra/Palm Valley substation.

"That (estimate) is misleading to the public. I'm not going to rely on (him) for a five-year plan," Sundeman said. "A professional engineer told me it would cost $100,000."

"As any system -- a building, for example -- gets older, maintenance is more expensive. With more efficiency, we can do a better job at less cost. The county's population will grow and we have to grow with it," he said. "The growth ability isn't here. We ought to be looking ahead."

Commissioner Jeanne Moeller also supported moving.

"No one's talking about a $23 million building out there, granite counter tops, a Taj Mahal," she said.